Blas Ruyz amd the Death of Anacaparan

Blas Ruyz, preceding Belloso, went up the river Mekong as far as the city of Chordemuco.

There they learned that the mandarins of Camboja had united against the Siamese whom they had conquered and driven from the kingdom. One of these mandarins was Anacaparan. He had taken the country as the new king against the will of the others.

Diego Belloso, Blas Ruyz, and those with them thought that they had arrived in good season for the furtherance of their designs, since:

• confusion reigned among the Cambodians
• the Siamese were out of the country.

Expecting Gallinato and the flagship to arrive directly, they spent several days in Chordemuco with the permission of Anacaparan, who resided 9 leguas away in Sistor.

At the same time, 6 Chinese ships with their merchandise arrived in Chordemuco. The Chinese and Spanish hated each other.

The Spanish killed many Chinese and seized their ships and all their cargo.

Anacaparan took offense at this, and wanted the Chinese to avenge themselves by his aid.

To remedy this evil, Dominican Fray Alonso Ximenez [52] went to Anacaparan and offer him excuses.

Anacaparan did not grant them audience.

So they crossed the river, arms in hand, late at night, and as silently as possible. Finding themselves near the city, and their courage and determination increasing, they entered the city and went as far as the king’s house.

They set fire to it, to the magazines, and to other buildings on their way, and threw the Cambodians into so great confusion, that that night and the following morning they killed many people, among them King Anacaparan himself.

Many Cambodians, with arms and several elephants, started to pursue the Spaniards and overtook them before they reached their ships.

The Spaniards defended themselves valiantly, and continued their march until embarking without the loss of a single man, while the Cambodians returned to the city with some of their men killed and wounded.

Diego Belloso and Bias Ruiz had hardly boarded their ships, when Captain Gallinato entered Chordemuco with the flagship, by way of the river.

They told him all that happened with the Chinese and Cambodians and of the favorable condition of affairs for continuing them, alleging that, since the usurper Anacaparan was dead, many Cambodians would immediately join the Spaniards in defense of the name and fame of Langara their legitimate king.

But, although some of the Cambodians themselves came to visit the fleet, and assured Gallinato of the same, of the death of Anacaparan, and of the deeds of the Spaniards in Sistor, he appeared to give no credit to any of them, and could not be induced to believe them, or to continue the enterprise, or even to consider it.

On the contrary he rebuked the Spaniards for what had taken place in his absence, and after depriving them of all that they had seized from the Chinese and Cambodians, put to sea in order to return to Manila.

Belloso and Blas Ruiz persuaded him to go at least to Cochinchina, where the galley seized when Governor Gomez Perez was killed was said to have been taken, and where were the royal standard and the artillery carried aboard the galley, and for which he should ask.

They promised, while Gallinato was making these negotiations, to go overland to the kingdom of Lao, where Langara, king of Camboja, was living, in order to restore him to his kingdom.

Captain Gallinato consented to this, and sailed along the coast, until he entered the bay of Cochinchina, where, although he was apparently well received by the natives of the country, he would not disembark from his ships, but sent Gregorio de Vargas from them to visit the king of Tunquin, the chief king of that kingdom, and to treat with him concerning the galley, the standard, and the artillery.

While he was thus engaged, Gallinato allowed Blas Ruyz and Diego Belloso to go ashore to endeavor to make the journey to Lao, for he agreed easily to their request because he thus got rid of them and left them busied in this matter, so that they could not do him any ill turn in Manila in regard to leaving Camboja.

Diego Belloso and Blas Ruyz went to the king of Sinua, son of the king of Tonkin, and begged him to help them in their journey.

From him they received all that was necessary, and were well treated and served until they reached the city of Alanchan, [53] capital of the kingdom of Lao where they were kindly received by the king.

They found that Prauncar Langara, king of Camboja, and his elder son and daughter had died, and that only his son Prauncar survived, and the latter’s stepmother, grandmother, and aunts.

They related the condition of affairs in Camboja, the arrival of the Spaniards, and the death of the usurper Anacaparan.

The same news was brought by a Cambodian from Chordemuco, who also added that since the death of Anacaparan, his younger son Chupinanu was reigning, that the country was entirely divided into factions, and that many upon seeing their natural and lawful king would leave Chupinanu and would join him and obey him.

The few difficulties for the departure having been overcome by the arrival at this time of the mandarin Ocuña de Chu at Lanchan, in Lao [54] from Camboja, who had been sent by order of other mandarins and grandees of Camboja with ten praus well equipped with artillery and weapons to fetch their lawful king, it was decided to go down to Camboja.

Prauncar, his grandmother, aunt, and stepmother—he wife of Langara—together with Diego Belloso and Blas Ruyz, embarked and journeyed in the said boats and praus down the rivers flowing from Lao to Camboja. [55] There they found fresh disturbances in the provinces.

But as soon as Prauncar arrived many went over to his side, especially two Moro Malays, Acuña La Casamana [56] and Cancona, who were in the country with a Malay army and a quantity of artillery and elephants.

Prauncar was victorious on various occasions. Chupinanu with his brothers and other rebels having died in battle, became master of almost all the provinces of his kingdom. He made Diego Belloso and Blas Ruyz chiefs in war affairs, and they managed war matters until they completely established Prauncar on the throne.

When the war almost ended, the king made Belloso and Blas Ruyz great chofas [57] of his kingdom, gave them two provinces, and granted them other favors, although not so many as they expected, or as he had promised while still in Lao.

The chief reason for this was the stepmother, grandmother, and aunt of the king, who managed him, on account of his youth, and of his being addicted to wine, in excess even of his father Langara.

The Moro Malay, Acuña Lacasamana, had great influence with these women.

Being envious of the valor of the Spaniards, he was continually opposing them, and seeking their destruction, with whom, on this account, they were always at odds.

This Moro held unlawful relations with the wife of Langara, the stepmother of King Prauncar.

Captain Gallinato’s fleet remained in Cochinchina negotiating with the king of Tonkin for the royal standard and the artillery of the galley, as above stated, for the galley was lost upon that coast, and this king had the rest in his possession.

The latter not only did not restore them, but entertaining Gallinato with flattering speech, was, on the contrary, planning to take from him his ships and their contents.

Gallinato was secretly warned of this by one of the chief women of Cochinchina, who came to the fleet to see him, after which he kept a much more careful watch than before, and allowed no one to go ashore.

But this order was of no avail with Fray Alonso Ximenez, one of the Dominican religious whom he had with him, and the chief promoter of the expedition.

When the latter went ashore, they seized and kept him there.

The Cochinchinese, imagining that the fleet was off its guard, sent some fire ships against it, followed by some galleys and warboats, in order to burn it, while many men armed with arquebuses annoyed the Spaniards from the neighboring shore.

The fleet succeeded in getting away from the fire and put off from shore, and resisted the enemy’s ships with artillery, musketry, and arquebuses, thus sinking some of them.

After this the Spaniards waited no longer, but leaving Fray Alonso Ximenez on shore, and two lay companions, whom he took with him, put to sea and left the bay of Cochinchina, and ran toward the Filipinas.